Garbage Bin Descending Control System

ABSTRACT

A descending control system for a garbage bin includes a bin provided with a pedal to control an active rod to ascend and descend to open and close a lid. A gear and a rack are provided in the bin. Both the gear and the rack are disposed with teeth to engage with each other. The height of the teeth on the rack decreases from a first end toward a second end of the rack. The engagement between the teeth of the gear and the teeth of the rack reduces the closing speed of the lid.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a garbage bin descending controlsystem, and more particularly to one that operates on decreasing theheight of teeth on a rack from a first end to a second end of the rackso to delay the descending speed of a lid when a gear engages with therack to turn around to close the lid upon the bin.

(b) Description of the Prior Art

A garbage bin adapted with a pedal generally available in the market isin a construction as disclosed in Taiwanese Patent No. M265363 titled“Garbage Bin with a Pedal”. Wherein, a pedal connection rod isexternally pivoted to a bottom of the bin; and another end of the pedalconnection rod is provided with a linkage connected further at its topto a lid. Accordingly, by stepping upon the pedal, the connection rodcontrols the linkage to push up the lid for one to litter in the bin orits inner bucket. As illustrated in FIG. 13 of the accompanying drawingsof the present invention, in another type of garbage bin adapted withtwo lid panels disclosed in Taiwanese Patent No. M240433 titled “Lid ofa Garbage Bin Adapted with a Pedal”, two arc lid panels (B) arerespectively pivoted to both sides of a lid (A); and both lid panels (B)are commonly subject to driving by an active rod (C). Accordingly, whena linkage (not illustrated) is stepped on to control the active rod (C)to push up and open up both lid panels (B) for one to litter in the binor its inner bucket.

However, in either form of the prior art, the lid or its lid panels ispushed up by the connection rod or the active rod when the pedal isstepped upon; once the stepping force is released, the lid or both lidpanels will rapidly descend to cause comparatively higher level of noisewhen the lid or both lid panels hits the top edge of the bin tointerfere with public tranquility. Furthermore, the bin could be damagedafter having being repeatedly hit by the lid or lid panels for a longtime.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a descendingcontrol system for a garbage bin to correct those flaws found with theprior art. According to a first aspect of the present invention, a lidis pivotally connected with a bin; the bin is provided with a gear and arack; multiple teeth are disposed on the gear and on the rack for boththe gear and the rack to engage with each other; the rack has a firstend and a second end in opposition to each other; and the height of eachtooth of the rack decreases from the first end towards the second end ofthe rack. The rack is a straight rack. Both the gear and the rack aresecured to a locating base; and the locating base is fixed to a bottomof the bin. An oval slot at a proper inclination is disposed on thelocating base to receive insertion of an axle of the gear; and spacingis kept between the inner wall of the locating base and the rear walledge of the rack. The height of a first tooth at the first end isgreater than that of a last tooth at the second end of the rack.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a lid is pivotallyconnected with a bin; a pivoting portion is disposed at the lid; a gearannually provided with multiple teeth is located in the pivoting portionof the lid; a rack fixed in the lid is arranged with multiple teeth toengage with the teeth of the gear; the rack has a first end and a secondend in opposition to each other; and the height of each tooth of therack decreases from the first end towards the second end of the rack.The rack is a straight rack. Two lid panels facing each other arepivoted to the lid; an active rod is provided to push up to open the lidpanels; two pull boards are pivoted to respective ends of the lidpanels. The rack is fixed to one pull board, and the other pull board isconnected to the active rod disposed in the bin. A spring is provided onone side of each of the lid panels. The height of a first tooth at thefirst end is greater than that of a last tooth at the second end of therack.

The present invention provides the following advantages:

1. The descending speed of the lid to close upon the bin is slowed downto prevent drastic dropping to hit the bin to cause noise whileextending the service life of the bin.

2. The present invention is applicable to and interchangeable between agarbage bin with a single lid and two lid panels.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a first preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing that a gear is engaged with a rack ofthe first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a magnified cut-away of the rack ofthe first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the first preferred embodiment of thepresent invention in an open status.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing an operation of engagement betweenthe rack and the gear of the first preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing that both the rack and the gear aresecured to a locating base of the first preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a second preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing one side of a lid of the secondpreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing the other side of the lid of thesecond preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing that a rack and a gear are engagedto each other of the second preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing that two lid panels of the lid areopened up in the second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing an operation status of theengagement between the rack and the gear of the second preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic view showing an opening structure of a garbagebin with dual-lid panel of the prior art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a first preferred embodiment of the presentinvention related to a garbage bin with a single lid comprises of a bin(1), a lid (2), a gear (3) and a rack (4).

A pedal (11) is externally disposed at a lower end of the bin (1). Thepedal (11) controls ascending and descending of an active rod (12)(related to the prior art and will not be illustrated and elaboratedherein). A pivoting portion (13) is disposed at an upper end of the bin(1). A locating base (14) is provided on the bottom in the bin (1).

The lid (2) pivoted to the pivoting portion (13) of the bin (1) opens upor closes up when pushed up by the active rod (12). The lid (2) isprovided with a pivoting end (21) to be pivoted to the pivoting portion(13) of the bin (1).

The gear (3) secured in the locating base (14) of the bin (1) isannularly disposed with multiple teeth (31).

The rack (4) secured in the locating base (14) of the bin (1) is astraight rack to engage with the gear (3), and is connected to one endof the active rod (12). Multiple teeth (41) are provided on the rack (4)to engage with the teeth (31) of the gear (3). The rack (4) has a firstend (4A) and a second end (4B) in opposition to each other. The heightof each of the teeth (41) on the rack (4) decreases from the first end(4A) towards the second end (4B) of the rack (4). The first end (4A) isan upper end of the rack (4), and the second end (4B) is a lower end ofthe rack (4). As illustrated in FIG. 2, the height (H) of a first tooth(41A) of the first end (4A) is greater than the height (h) of a lasttooth (41B) of the second end (4B) so as to create different movingspeed when engaged with the teeth (31) of the gear (3).

In use, as illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, the pedal (11) is steppedupon to control the active rod (12) to push up the lid (2). When the lid(2) is pushed up to open, the active rod (12) pushes up the rack (4) toproduce relative motion with the gear (3) in the locating base (14) forthe gear (3) to start moving up. Because the height of each of the teeth(41) on the rack (4) decreases from the first end (4A) towards thesecond end (4B) (i.e., from top to bottom) of the rack (4), the spacingbetween the teeth (41) of the rack (4) and the teeth (31) of the gear(3) is getting wider when the lid (2) opens up to accelerate therelative moving speed so to rapidly open up the lid (2). On thecontrary, upon closing the lid (2), the pedal (11) is released frombeing stepped on and the lid (2) automatically descends by its ownweight. The descending lid (2) drives the active rod (12) to draw therack (4) to move downward, and the rack (4) engages relative motion inopposite direction with the gear (3) in the locating base (14) to movedownward. Meanwhile the spacing between the teeth (41) of the rack (4)and the teeth (31) of the gear (3) is getting smaller to slow down therelative moving speed, thus to reduce the closing speed of the lid (2)to prevent the descending lid (2) from hitting the top edge of the bin(1) to create noise while extending the service life of the bin (1).

An oval slot (141) as illustrated in FIG. 6 with a proper inclination isdisposed on the locating base (14) to receive an axle (32) of the gear(3). A proper spacing is kept between a rear wall edge (42) of the rack(4) and an inner wall (142) of the locating base (14). Accordingly, whenthe pedal (11) is stepped upon as illustrated in FIG. 4, the active rod(12) is controlled to push up the lid (2). Meanwhile, the rack (4) movesup to push the axle (32) of the gear (3) in the slot (141) of thelocating base (14) to move up at a certain inclination to increase thespacing between the center of the gear (3) and the rack (4) to reducefriction between the rear wall edge (42) of the rack (4) against theinner wall (142) of the locating base (14), to further slow down theresistance created from treading on the pedal (11) to push up to openthe lid (2). Once a foot of a user clears away from the pedal (11), thelid (2) descends by its own weight to drive the active rod (12) to drawthe rack (4) to move down. Meanwhile, the axle (32) of the gear (3) alsomoves down at an inclination to narrow down the spacing between thecenter of the gear (3) and the rack (4). Accordingly, the frictionbetween the rear wall edge (42) of the rack (4) and the inner wall (142)of the locating base (14) gets stronger to increase the resistance toshut off the lid (2) thus to slow down the descending of the lid (2).

Now referring to FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and 10, a second preferred embodiment ofthe present invention related to a dual-lid garbage bin lids comprises abin (5), a lid (6), a gear (7), and a rack (8).

A pedal (51) to control ascending and descending of an active rod (52)is externally disposed at a lower end of the bin (5) (related to theprior art, thus not illustrated and elaborated herein).

The lid (6) closes upon the top of the bin (5) and includes two lidpanels (61) pivoted to each other. Both ends (611) at where theoperating force is applied on both sides of each lid panel (61) arecommonly pivoted to pull boards (62, 62A) on both sides of the lid (6).The pull board (62) is connected to the active rod (52) in the bin (5)and subject to push up by the active rod (52). Two springs (63) areprovided on the ends (611) of the other sides of the lid panels (61).When the active rod (52) drives the pull board (62) to push up, thesprings (63) extend to push the lid panels (61) to open up in relationto the lid (6). A pivoting portion (64) is downward provided on one sideof the lid (6).

The gear (7) secured in the pivoting portion (64) of the lid (6) isannularly disposed with multiple teeth (71).

The rack (8) secured on the pull board (62A) on one side of the lid (6)is a straight rack to engage with the gear (7). Multiple teeth (81) areprovided on the rack (8), and the height of each of the teeth (81)decreases from a first end (8A) to a second end (8B) of the rack (8).The first end (8A) is an upper end of the rack (8), and the second end(8B) is a lower end of the rack (8). As illustrated in FIG. 10, theheight (H) of a first tooth (81A) of the first end (8A) is greater thanthe height of a last tooth (81B) of the second end (8B) to createdifferent moving speed when engaged with the teeth (71) of the gear (7).

In use as illustrated in FIGS. 7, 8, 11, and 12 when a user steps on thepedal (51), the active rod (52) controlled by the pedal (51) pushes upthe pull board (62) on one side of the lid (6). The pull board (62) inturn pushes up the ends (611) of the lid panels (61) at where theoperating force is applied thus to push the lid panels (61) to pivot andopen up in relation to the lid (6) while pulling the springs (63) toextend. The pull board (62A) fixed to the other side of the lid (6) isdriven to move up when the lid plates (61) open up. Meanwhile, the rack(8) fixed on the pull board (62A) produces relative motion against thegear (7) in the pivoting portion (64) of the lid (6) thus to startmoving up. Because the height of each of the teeth (81) of the rack (8)decreases from the first end (8A) to the second end (8B) of the rack (8)(i.e., from top to bottom), the spacing between the teeth (81) of therack (8) and the teeth (71) of the gear (7) gets wider when the lidpanels (61) open up; and the relative moving speed gets faster so torapidly open up the lid plates (61). On the contrary, when the lidpanels (61) close up and the foot of the user clears away from the pedal(51), the pull board (62A) on one side of the lid (6) is pulled down dueto the return force exercised by the springs (63), so that the rack (8)on the pull board (62A) engages once again relative motion against thegear (7) in the pivoting portion (64) of the lid (6) to start move down.Meanwhile, the spacing between the teeth (81) of the rack (8) and theteeth (71) of the gear (7) gets smaller to slow down the speed of therelative motion between the rack (8) and the gear (7) thus to reduce theclosing speed of the lid panels (61) to prevent from hitting the topedge of the lid (6) to cause noise due to drastic fall while extendingthe service life of the garbage bin (1).

1. A descending control system for a garbage bin comprising a binpivotally connected with a lid; a gear and a rack being provided in thebin; the gear being annularly disposed with a plurality of teeth; therack being disposed with a plurality of teeth to engage with the teethof the gear; the rack having a first end and a second end; and theheight of each of the teeth of the rack decreasing from the first endtoward the second end of the rack.
 2. The descending control system fora garbage bin as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rack is a straightrack.
 3. The descending control system for a garbage bin as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the gear and the rack are secured to a locating base,and the locating base is secured to a bottom of the bin.
 4. Thedescending control system for a garbage bin as claimed in claim 3,wherein an oval slot at a proper inclination is disposed on the locatingbase; an axle of the gear is inserted into the oval slot; and spacing iskept between a rear wall edge of the rack and an inner wall of thelocating base.
 5. The descending control system for a garbage bin asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the height of a first tooth of the first endis greater than the height of a last tooth of the second end of therack.
 6. A descending control system for a garbage bin comprising a binpivotally connected with a lid; the lid having a pivoting portion; agear secured in the pivoting portion of the lid; the gear beingannularly provided with a plurality of teeth; a rack being secured inthe lid; the rack being disposed with a plurality of teeth to engagewith the teeth of the gear; the rack having a first end and a secondend; and the height of each of the teeth of the rack decreasing from thefirst end toward the second end of the rack.
 7. The descending controlsystem for a garbage bin as claimed in claim 6, wherein the rack is astraight rack.
 8. The descending control system for a garbage bin asclaimed in claim 6, wherein the lid is pivotally connected with two lidpanels; an active rod is provided in the bin to open the lid panels; twopull boards are pivotally connected with respective ends of the two lidpanels; the rack is secured to one of the pull boards; the active rod inthe bin is connected to the other pull board; a spring is provided onone side of each of the lid panels.
 9. The descending control system fora garbage bin as claimed in claim 6, wherein the height of a first toothof the first end is greater than the height of a last tooth of thesecond end of the rack.